The shindig

Sadie's birthday was celebrated over several days...we did family presents on her actual birthday and went out for dinner but waited until the weekend to do her cake since my parents were going to be coming up for the weekend. Matt's parents had come up before we left for Florida and given Sadie her gifts (and I wasn't even thinking to take pictures--bummer!) So she really had 3 days of celebrating!

We usually make the kids wait until the evening to open presents, but Wyatt had picked out a special gift just for Sadie that he wanted to give her that morning.....

Matt had given Sadie a charm bracelet to match mine at Valentine's Day and ever since then, Wyatt has been telling me he wanted to get Sadie another charm. So we went and he picked out a really cute pink heart charm.

She spent much of her birthday on the phone and loved it! This girl was so excited to have so many people call her for her birthday and really loved the calls she got from her friends Ellie Lundquist and Elle Sullivan!

Opening gifts that evening (I'm still not used to it being light out so late!)

I love the faces she makes....

And if you notice from those pictures, she has a constant 'shadow' over her watching to see what she'll get and ready to help if she needs it. At one point, Sadie said, "Wyatt, don't tell me!" as she feared his excitement would spoil the surprise!

The cake

Love this picture...except that I didn't get the focus right! But she was sitting like this once I finished decorating it for several minutes!

Birthday celebration #3...opening gifts from Nani and Pops

She got the family minivan that goes with her dollhouse...do you think there were a few other people interested?

And then she got the baby 'collection'.....2 more babies (that makes 4 total), 2 strollers, 2 car seats in the minivan, bouncy seats, exersaucers, cribs and highchairs.

(She has named the 2 baby girls Ellie and Claire after our good friends Steph and Bill's new twin baby girls Eleanore and Claire!)

She loved the minivan and it came at great timing....right after we got back from our trip to FL where we rented a minivan and the kids thought the automatic doors were the coolest things ever. (We always want what we don't have!)

Who do you think did this?? Grandma on the 4-wheeler (and the 4-wheeler was clearly not part of the birthday gifts!)

Matt told her she could put the candles wherever she wanted to...Wyatt then told us all it looked like the princess had bombs coming out of the back of her!

I love the look on my kids' faces when people are singing Happy Birthday to them!

Ready to dive in!

My in-laws also got Sadie a princess kite for her birthday and her very own 'Dopp' kit (if you are a Sorensen) or a toiletry bag (for the rest of us) with an embroidered 'S' on it!

Do I sound like a broken record?

Blake has not stopped moving, climbing and getting in to things he's not supposed to. For example....

He is by far our strongest and most coordinated child and nothing stops him. It is mostly exhausting and somewhat irritating that every time I turn my back he is getting in to something he shouldn't be, but when I have a moment to sit back and watch, it is quite amazing. I told a woman in a store the other day after she commented on how busy he, that he will accomplish so much in life and be successful at anything if only I can get him through his toddler years alive! Just the other day he climbed up the ladder of Wyatt's bunk bed and back down again (the next day he fell off the 4th step while I was in the shower)! Lovely.

But he is also starting to understand more and that has been lots of fun. He doesn't say much, but does have several words that he does use when he needs to. He says "ma" for milk and a slightly different sounding "mor" for more.....due to him getting up so early in the mornings (5:30-6am), he usually helps Matt or I make the coffee and loves it, saying "hot cof" for hot coffee..."uh-oh" is another common phrase....and of course "da-da" whenever the phone rings or the door opens....but mostly he just walks around quietly reaching into drawers that we didn't know he could reach or see into and climbing things. He is understanding quite a bit now and will take something to someone if we ask him to or put something back (if he wants to!). But often we can ask for something back and he just grins and runs away. He does love to give 'open mouth' kisses and everyone in our family loves it! He's been using a fork quite proficiently and wants to use it all the time now. (It doesn't hurt that he has a serious audience cheering for him when he picks up food with his fork and puts it in his mouth!)

Pretty hard to stay frustrated with this face

He continues to adore his big brother and gets a serious belly laugh whenever Wyatt does something funny. They love wrestling together and as you can see, Blake is really tough. He rarely cries, despite the many bumps and bruises on his head!

We love him and he's a great little guy, but boy is he a LOT of work. Just before I put him down for his nap today, he reached into a drawer in the kitchen and pulled out a pair of scissors....they were in the back of the drawer and I didn't even realize he could reach them or see in the drawer! By the time I put them away and rearranged things, he was standing on the coffee table in the family room with his arms raised above his head as if he'd just climbed Mt. Everest!

Happy Birthday Sadie....4 years old!

Sadie just turned 4 on Monday (I am a few days behind!) and Matt and I were talking on Sunday night about how it seems like Sadie should be turning 5. I had several friends ask us if she was turning 5 and when I said she was just turning 4, they were so shocked. She is quite the talkative little girl, which is why I think most people think she is older than she is.

She does love to talk (not sure who she gets it from:), especially on the phone. She still enjoys playing with her baby dolls and her purses. She has several bags and will fill them with anything possible and carry them all around the house, often leaving things in surprising places. She is quite messy/creative (however you like to look at it) and isn't bothered by any mess ......

She loves sweets and will ask for Sprite or chocolate milk on every 'special' occasion, but also really likes carrots, salads, guacamole and milk. I posted this next picture because she is my child who is more likely to ask forgiveness than permission, if you know what I mean. It can be cute but also is something we are working on!


And this girl LOVES stories.....she likes books just fine and will read them often, but she will sit so attentively to anyone telling her a story. She remembers every single detail about the story, including intonations in peoples' voices and the emotions of each character. And she loves to retell stories as well or make her own up as she goes. I love her imagination and am trying to gently teach her big brother not to squelch it (Wyatt constantly wants to know if things are real or just pretend...i.e, Mickey Mouse isn't real, its just a person inside a costume...and will share this information with Sadie, who loves make-believe and pretend. Thankfully, whenever Wyatt tells her that something isn't real, like her Tinkerbell and fairies, Sadie just says, "I know" and continues to play as if they are. But we are working on getting Wyatt to keep these things to himself and allow his sister to play.)
She lives life to its fullest....experiencing an array of emotions and taking advantage of every opportunity for fun and laughter.

For the most part, she isn't afraid to try new things even if Wyatt doesn't want to do something (this was taken at the state fair and Wyatt didn't want to join her on this 2-person ride, so she just went alone!)

She got to be a flower girl twice this year and still talks about it at least once a week.

She loves shoes (not sure who she gets that from either!)

and dancing seems to be her favorite activity....anytime, anywhere! And in my seriously biased opinion, I would say she is quite good. This girl can move her hips and follow a beat with the best of them!

You have done such a great job in swimming and dance this year and are VERY anxious to start preschool in the fall. Sadie, we are so proud of you and love being your parents! You are so full of life and everyone who meets you instantly smiles! You do a great job of staying so 'girlie' despite being surrounded by some pretty tough boys! You can hang with them in just about any sport/activity but have no problems doing your own thing when you want to. You are very confident and easily make friends wherever you go.....I often hear you say, "Hi, I am Sadie. What's your name? Do you want to be my friend?" and will tell us each week after church about a new friend you made and that you invited them to our house! I love it! You are a great encourager and are just as excited about your brothers' accomplishments as you are your own. I love hearing you say, "Great job_____" with so much enthusiasm. We are so blessed to have you in our family and look forward to what "4 years old" brings!!